Tweet Tweet ... Twitter - A Useful Tool or Not?

Over the last few months I have been hearing a lot about Twitter, a micro-blogging site that allows you to post updates up to 140 characters long from your computer or phone. It's name has been popping up all over public relations newsletters, newspapers and Etsy. I've looked at the site a few times - trying to figure out what all the hype was about and how "Tweeting" could be potentially useful for businesses.

The other day, after reading several New York Times articles about Twitter, as well as a few blog posts, I decided to give it a shot. I started an account and "tweeted."

Since I joined on Monday evening, I have accrued 23 followers - not sure where they came from or how they found me. I'll take them nonetheless, and I'll sing to them - like a bird, "Tweet, tweet. Rockin' robin."

I haven't been on Twitter long enough to determine whether it is useful for a business or merely another social networking site to get hooked on. I've wasted significant time on Friendster, MySpace and now Facebook. Although, I think all those sites have some benefits, they are clearly more time-consuming than anything else (at least for me). Luckily, Twitter only allows you to write 140 characters at a time. You have to learn to be brief. Not bad for someone always on the go!

Yesterday I decided to read about Twitter on Etsy and get some opinions from fellow crafters. It seems as if there are mixed opinions in the forums as well. I did obtain a bunch of potentially useful advice from Etsians who tweet. Below are the particularly useful posts and resources I found on Etsy:

Redpanda says, "TARGET who you're following. Use Twitter's search tool and search for people who have tweeted about your form of art or craft recently. Follow them! Also follow the people Etsy is following. These are people who know about Etsy, and like the concept but may not have been introduced to your shop. After a week, if you want to clear out those who aren't following you back, you can use www.lessfriends.com to do so."

Timothy Adam suggests determining what your long term goal is before you use Twitter. If you want to use it as a marketing tool, leave your personal posts out. Post updates on new items, sales, and blog posts. You can use Twitter to seek opinions and critiques. On his blog, Timothy provides some additional great ideas as well as links to tolls you can use with Twitter.

To read what Etsy's Carprichos and strangelittlebird have to say about Twitter, please read this Storque interview

Still confused about Twitter, watch this video posted by leelefever on Common Craft:




What is your experience with Twitter? Do you use it? Do you like it? Has it helped bring visibility to your shop and/or blog?